Charlie Porter

Menswear Critic, Financial Times

The menswear critic has become a leading voice in fashion and sits on the selection panels of NEWGEN and Fashion East.

What is the BoF 500?

The BoF 500 is the definitive professional index of the people shaping the $2.4 trillion fashion industry, hand-selected by the editors of The Business of Fashion, based on hundreds of nominations received from current BoF 500 members, extensive data analysis and research.

Biography

A regular fixture at fashion weeks, Charlie Porter has become a leading voice in fashion, documenting the industry as the menswear critic for the Financial Times.

While pursuing a philosophy BA at King's College London, Porter spent his placement period at Vogue, where he had the opportunity to attend shows by the likes of Alexander McQueen. Unable to pursue an MA due to financial reasons, Porter began his journalistic career for the Daily Express in the mid-1990s.

In 2000, Porter was appointed the deputy fashion editor at the Guardian. Later serving tenures at GQ and Fantastic Man, Porter became a freelancer in 2012. In 2014, he was appointed menswear critic at the Financial Times, where he currently works.

Today, Porter holds a position on a selection of panels for both NEWGEN MEN and Fashion East. Recently, he has also appeared in panels and conversation with designers Nasir Mazhar and James Long and is recurrently a guest on SHOWstudio evaluating fashion shows.